tammylc

Pecan Crusted Tilapia with Brown Butter Sauce, Take 2 This was a big, big hit. I had no fewer than 3 people come and ask me for the recipe. Even I swooned a little on my first bite - it really did turn out well this time. Stats: 40 fish eaters, 4 vegetarians, 19 kids. And I had to turn people away who were looking for late signups. That's a lot of fish to fry - this is 10 more people than I had last time I made this meal. Cost per person - $5.74. I thought I was going to top $6, but the few late signups I did accept took care of that. Menu was nearly the same as last time. I bought some nice smoked paprika to use for the cajun rice, and that made it much better than last time. Vegetarians got portabellas stuffed with goat cheese, sundried tomatoes and caramelized onion (was supposed to be fennel, but the store didn't have any). I bought 15 lbs of fish, and there was a little bit left, so I guess that was the right amount (although at the time I was a little worried). I bought less asparagus than last time, and just steamed it, cut it up and served it on top of the salad. Found some pinenuts in the fridge and was going to throw those in on the spur of the moment, except that I burned them and didn't have time to toast more. This time, however, I did remember to make the macaroni and cheese. I didn't have time to do anything special for dessert, so I bought ice cream (notes to self - 2 cartons would have been plenty, Cookies and Cream is a popular flavor). And now, in easy cut and paste form and by popular demand, the recipe: Fish Equal parts pecans and panko (aka Japanese bread crumbs) flour salt and pepper eggs canola oil tilapia Put pecans in the food processor and pulse a few times to chop. Add panko, and pulse again, until you have a nice breading consistency - not too fine. Combine flour, salt and pepper in a dish. Beat eggs. To bread, coat fish in flour mixture, dip in egg, and coat with breading. You can do this quite a while in advance if you want. Cook in hot canola oil, 2-3 minutes per side, until brown and crispy. Don't overcook! Serve with brown butter sauce (holds surprisingly well in a 200 degree oven). Brown Butter Sauce Unsalted butter Fresh squeezed lemon juice Tarragon Salt Cook butter in a stainless steel or other light colored saucepan over medium heat until brown and nutty. Add lemon juice to taste (a good ratio seems to be slightly less than one lemon's juice per stick of butter), whisking together over the heat to emulsify. Add salt and cook for a little longer to tame the lemon a smidge. Add some freshly chopped tarragon.

New numbers: Longone Culinary Archive Tour, Friday, August 4, 4-5pm 16 confirmed, 2 tentative Dinner at Bella Ciao Trattoria, Friday, August 4, 7-9pm 19 confirmed, 2 tentative Shopping at Zingerman's, Friday, August 4, 9-10pm 18 confirmed, 1 tentative Farmer's Market Excursion, Saturday, August 5, 10 am 22 confirmed, 4 tentative Wine Tasting, Saturday, August 5, 1:30-3pm 29 confirmed, 4+ tentative Heartland Feast, Saturday, August 5, 7 pm 30 confirmed, 1+ tentative Sunday Brunch, Sunday, August 6, 10:30am 17 confirmed, 4 tentative Coffee Roaster Visit, Sunday, August 6, noonish 12 confirmed, 6 tentative

Entirely appropriate. At the first Heatland Gathering in Grand Rapids, Matthew had a fabulous cocktail making setup. We've lost his bartending charms, so we stuck to wine last year, but other contributions are certainly welcome! I know my husband will be excited about the Absinthe.

Interesting thought. I know that the first local blueberries were just coming into season last week, so perhaps I'll take a look and see what the price is like at tomorrow's Westside Farmer's Market. Peaches are still at least a few weeks away, sadly. Thanks!

I haven't actually forgotten about y'all. Just haven't been very creative about common meal lately. Last time I cooked, June 22, I reran the sesame noodles I've made a bunch of times before. It was hot out, so instead of slaving over the stove making a green bean & red pepper stirfry, I blanched the green beans and made a cold salad instead, with red peppers and a soy-ginger-sesame dressing instead. Tomorow I'm making another rerun - the Pecan-Crusted Tilapia from May. I'll probably do green beans instead of asparagus, and I need to think of a dessert still. Ideas? Main dish ingredients are relatively expensive, so I'll probably bake something. I find that I can do a good dessert for not a lot of money as long as I'm willing to take the extra time required to bake. On the 27th we're hosting a little reunion for my husband's high school buddies in conjunction with common meal. Since this will be a big meal, I wanted simple, so I'm rerunning the Spicy Korean-Style Pork Tenderloin. I'm going to play around with broiling and/or grilling the pork in addition to doing it on the stovetop, because that was the only problem with it last time - it just took too long to do in batches on the stove, not to mention that the marinade burned in the pan, so I had to keep stopping to clean them out. I think I could make quick work of the tenderloin with a grill or two - gives me a bigger surface area to work with than a frying pan. Ditto the broiler. I'll probably do a combination of approaches to cook the most amount of pork as close to serving time as possible. But I'm really writing to tell you about the meal after that one! I had to swap one of my regular Thursday shifts, and ended up cooking on Sunday, July 30. Hope I'll be feeling inspired by then, because I'm going to try something I've talked about for a long while. I'm calling the meal Tammy's Market Basket, and here's the description I posted to our meal signup system: Are you willing to take a chance? I'm going to go to the Farmer's Market on Saturday morning, and see what looks fresh and good, and what Sparrow Meats or Monahan's seafood have on sale that day. I'll collect up all that bounty of the season and turn it into dinner. But I can't tell you what it is before you sign up, because I don't know - you'll just have to trust me. I'm really curious if this will generate more or fewer signups than a typical Sunday meal. Just how far will my reputation carry me?

Oh, and I'm pleased to have the Heartland Gathering as my excuse to open up the "party size" jar of foie gras pate that's been in my cupboard since last fall. It was a gift, and I simply haven't had an event that required *that much* pate in the intervening few months. I promise this will be better than the sea urchin pate I inflicted upon all of you last year!

And after last year I think squash blossoms should be the official emblem of the Heartland Gathering, so I'm working on a trio of squash/zucchini presentations, one of which will be a squash blossom. Probably non-tempura-fried, I'm thinking, since torakris has already excused herself from that "honor."

Current menu status: Hors d'ouevres: ronnie_suburban, tammlyc Salad: torakris Pasta: CaliPoutine & friend Fish: CaliPoutine & friend Meat: NancyH and Bob, maybe Destroit too Side or Poultry: daniellewiley Side: Alex (corn), moonsqrl (somethimg else) Cheese: sweintraub Dessert: Alex (blueberry cobbler) Cooks - expect an organizational email from me soon! If your name isn't on this list but you're planning to be a hard-core sous chef and want to be in on the menu strategizing emails, please PM me. Things seem to be shaping up quite nicely. Looks like we've got no shortage of volunteers, which is great. I'm sure it will be a fabulous meal!

The lastest status updates: I've got specific RSVP info from: tammylc & Eric Alex daniellewilley (no Michael) torakris NancyH & Bob Shannon_Elise destroit Fat Guy sweintraub edsel aznsailorboi Mr. & Mrs. Devilkitty (tentative) LainerX Ruthie Jewell VickiA2 ronnie_suburban CaliPoutine & friend Sam Iam & Joyce annarborfoodie Palladion HeatherM moonsqrl Meez (cancelled) Maggi & Tom (a friend of mine, not on eGullet) Nancy (ditto) I have yet to hear details from: cbarre02 & guest Elrushbo slbunge (tentative) jmsaul & L maggiethecat Flocko (maybe) ulterior epicure's spirit If you're in the "yet to hear from" list or need to change your answers, please visit the survey. Less than a month to go - we're getting into the home stretch now!

You proved yourself a capable assistant last year, so I'll certainly plan to take advantage of you again... I still tell people the story about you calling up Jose's Minibar to get the actual recipe for the caramelized zucchini. Hopefully this year's gathering will generate even more great stories for my anecdote file!

There will be lots of sous chefs and dishwashers required, so unless you feel driven to volunteer for a course, don't worry about it - we'll pitch you in as needed. Have you filled out the survey form yet? If not, please do, since that's how we're tracking RSVPs for the various events. Thanks!

I have been told that New Jersey's number one export is college students. Apparently they make up a surprisingly high percentage of students in most other states.

It's an interesting concept. I've just posted a question on the forums there about how credit card payments are handled, given that they use PayPal to disburse collected funds. PayPal requires that you have a premium account in order to collect credit card payments, but it looks like those payments get effectively "laundered" into one direct combined transfer, which would hopefully eliminate that problem. I had planned to handle this on a case by case basis, collecting money on-site from people arriving Friday night and Saturday morning, and asking those who wouldn't be arriving until later to make arrangements to pay in advance. But I'm certainly open to exploring other options.

Current RSVPs: Longone Culinary Archive Tour Friday, August 4, 4-5pm 14 confirmed, 2 tentative Dinner at Bella Ciao Trattoria Friday, August 4, 7-9pm 15 confirmed, 2 tentative Shopping at Zingerman's Friday, August 4, 9-10pm 16 confirmed, 1 tentative Farmer's Market Excursion Saturday, August 5, 10 am 19 confirmed, 3 tentative Wine Tasting Saturday, August 5, 1:30-3pm 20 confirmed, 4+ tentative Heartland Feast Saturday, August 5, 7 pm 27 confirmed, 1+ tentative Sunday Brunch Sunday, August 6, 10:30am 13 confirmed, 2 tentative Coffee Roaster Visit Sunday, August 6, noonish 9 confirmed, 5 tentative

And on that note... Of the people on Alex's last list I've got specific RSVP info from: tammylc & Eric Alex daniellewilley (& Michael?) torakris NancyH & Bob Shannon_Elise destroit Fat Guy sweintraub edsel aznsailorboi Mr. & Mrs. Devilkitty (tentative) VickiA2 ronnie_suburban CaliPoutine Sam Iam And a couple people not on the list: LainerX Ruthie Jewell Maggi (a friend of mine, not on eGullet) Nancy (ditto) I have yet to hear from: cbarre02 & guest Elrushbo Palladion slbunge (tentative) HeatherM Meez (maybe) jmsaul & L maggiethecat Flocko (maybe) annarborfoodie (part-time) ulterior epicure's spirit If you're in the "yet to hear from" list, please visit the survey. I'll post the current tallies in the next post.

Went to Vinology again last night, and I continue to be pleased. Our waiter was a little annoying and not particularly knowledgeable about wine, but he was reasonably attentive, so that was fine. Two of us ordered 3 small plates then a split a main. We wanted the spoon hors d'ouevres, but they didn't have any yesterday. I was tempted to get the riccota gnocchi, because I liked it sooo much last time, but I thought I'd better try something new. We ended up with the calamari with green papaya slaw, ahi carpaccio, and a the house salad. The calamari was good - I liked the serrano ginger pesto it was served with - but occasionally a bit chewier than I expect good calamari to be. The ahi carpaccio continues to impress, but I'll admit it's probably just because of the foie gras - I'm an absolute sucker for the stuff. The house salad was tasty, but perhaps a little overdressed. For our main, we split the hazelnut dusted scallops, served with polenta and greens, a honey drizzle and a citrus beurre blanc. Good, but we found the honey drizzle a little too generous, making the whole dish a little too sweet. My hypocracy in the other thread about frequently changing menus was revealed, as I was saddened to discover that they'd changed the cookie being served with the ice cream sandwich. I'd absolutely adored the bittersweet chocolate pine nut cookie we were served last time. Informed that today's cookie was chocolate chocolate chip with cherries we decided to go for it anyway, but then our waiter came out to tell us that it had actually changed to chocolate coconut. Since my friend is not a coconut fan, we took a pass on dessert altogether and ate my homemade chocolate truffles instead.

That sounds great! I will totally admit that the best thing the Best Western has going for is that it's close. For people who don't mind going a little farther afield, using something like Priceline could net you a cheaper and/or better stay. (That particular Hampton Inn is only okay - my company is about to stop using it for our field staff - but for $38, that's great.)

Yes, there can be a grill (or two) available. The appetizer I'm thinking of will require one as well. And I'm totally in favor of deciding at the market - that's what this is all about! I caught the tail end of the market today. The warm spring has things coming in much earlier than last year. Plus our event is about two weeks later than last year, so we should have a slightly different array of produce at a our disposal. I'll give another update one week out.

Okay, here's how the menu is shaping up: Hors d'ouevres: ronnie_suburban, tammlyc Salad: torakris Fish: CaliPoutine Side: Alex (corn) Cheese: sweintraub Dessert: Alex (blueberry cobbler) We could use a few more people to volunteer, so if you're interested please speak up. Feel free to double up - last year we ended up with 3 salads and at least two desserts. I'll take a meat or poultry course if no one else wants to, but I'll be busy being all coordinator-y, so I'm happy to give it up and just pitch in as necessary if someone else wants it. Now seems like a good time to repost some details of the space:

Wow - that sounded like it was a totally miserable meal. I hope it was just a fluke! What was your first choice? I'd love to hear about your meal at the Common Grill. I haven't been in a long time and keep wondering whether I should make the trip out to Chelsea sometime soon.

Ooh, can we hear about that? (Or have you already posted and I've missed it?) ← Sure. It's a little off-topic for this thead, so I wrote it up and posted it over here.

Over in another thread I mentioned a scallop dinner I organized for my husband recently, and Alex wanted to know more. It would have been off topic over there, but this seems like a reasonable place for it... In early June my husband turned 40. To celebrate, we intvited a bunch of friends over for dinner. Despite having 6 children (ages 3 months, 8 months, almost 3, 2.5, 2, and 8) running around, we managed to pull off a surprisingly ambitious menu. My husband had expressed a while back that he wanted me to cook him 5 lbs of scallops for his birthday. We eventually agreed that 5 lbs was probably too many, but the goal was clear - eat a LOT of scallops (he hesitates to order scallops in restaurants, because the serving size is usually too skimpy). As things evolved into this big dinner party idea, my idea was that each couple would prepare a different scallop course. As it actually happened, we ended up asking one non-cook couple to bring dessert instead, and I added an extra non-scallop course because I had bought food for dinner on Friday night that didn't get used. Here's what we ended up with. <b>Scallop Mousse in Phyllo Cups</b> (Scott) This was supposed to be Scott's dish, but then we realized he had left the phyllo cups at home. As he dashed off to get them, I prepared the mousse. Unfortunately, I forgot the salt. Fortunately, once we sprinkled them with some kosher salt, they were better. We ended up with 45 of these tasty little bites, but I forgot to take the picture until there were only a few left. I will keep this in mind for the future as good for an hors d'oeuvres party - they're easy, make a lot, and specifically call for the cheaper kind of scallops ("wet") <b>Grilled Bacon Wrapped Scallops</b> (Jay and Tracy) The scallops were marinated in something - olive oil, lemon, herbs? - I don't quite remember. And then wrapped with parboiled bacon, stuck on skewers and grilled. Cooking bacon on the grill caused some major flare ups, but that meant the scallops had a great smoky flavor. We used cheap supermarket scallops for this recipe, assuming that the bacon would obscure any subtle flavor differences. These were very tasty. <b>Seared Scallops with Wild Mushrooms and Fresh-picked Garden Lettuces</b> (me, with Tracy's lettuce) I have made this Mario Batali recipe before, and it was the first thing that came to mind when I was deciding what to cook. Shallots and mushrooms are sauteed in olive oil, then dressed with balsalmic vinegar. While it's still warm, you toss it with the greens, then top with seared scallops. It's a great combination of earth and sea. When I've made this before I've always had to satisfy myself with just criminis and maybe shiitakes for the "wild" mushrooms. But Sparrow actually had some chanterelles today, so I got a few. Don't know that it was worth it, as the balsalmic vinegar hid any unique flavor they might have had, but they did add a different texture that was nice. For this dish we used the shockingly expensive freshly harvested flown in same day scallops from Monahan's, and they had good flavor and texture. <b>Tomato Basil Sorbet</b> (Scott) Scott brought over some leftover tomato water leftover from he and Sue's tomato canning last year. He doctored it up with finely chopped basil, sugar, salt and balsalmic vinegar, and the end result was more tomatoey than tomatoes themselves. It was good, and surprising - like eating tomato basil salad or bruschetta in frozen form. <b>Duck Bangers with Truffled Mash and Grilled Asparagus</b> (me) So I'd picked up a couple of duck and dried cherry sausages and potatoes from Sparrow with the intention of making them for dinner on Friday. Pondering the price of scallops, I thought that perhaps adding a non-scallop dish to the scallop meal wouldn't be a bad idea. So we ended up with grilled duck sausage and white truffle oil infused mashed potatoes. With fresh farmer's market asparagus on the side. <b>Assorted Desserts</b> (Tom and Maggi) Maggi and Tom brought a variety of individual desserts from Whole Foods - strawberry shortcake, strawberry cheesecake, and creme brulee. The individual nature was a huge boon, as we'd exceeded bedtimes in the IJ household, and this way we were easily able to send Scott and Sue off with desserts for later. Here's the cheesecake: The kids had hot dogs, mashed sweet potatoes and cheese. I wasn't sure what the best way was to organize food for the kids. We ended up feeding them as we ate our bacon wrapped scallops. They were mostly done by the time we were into the salad, but with full tummies they ran off to play (relatively) peacefully while we ate the rest of our dinner. So it worked out perfectly! We drank three bottles of wine with dinner. While you might tend to think scallops would call for white wines, our preparations on the dishes were really much more red wine friendly - bacon, mushrooms, etc. So I pulled a bunch of things out of the basement that I thought would go. With the scallop mousse cups we had a <b>white Cotes du Rhone, a 2004 from Domaine de L'Oratoire Saint-Martin</b>. For the rest, we poured two different wines so we could compare and contrast (it was a wine geek heavy dinner). I wasn't quite sure what to expect of the <b>2002 Cotes du Ventoux Cuvee des 3 Messes Basses</b>, but it was a lovely Southern french wine. Relatively light bodied with good acidity with berry and green olive notes. Reminded me a lot of the Ermitage Pic St. Loup my wine club tasted in May. I knew exactly what to expect from the <b>1998 Teldeschi Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel</b>. It's a beatiful wine - mellow tannins, lots of fruit, not so alcoholic as many Zins. I bought a few bottles of this more than a year ago, and this was my last one. It may have been the last in existence - my wineseller can't get it anymore. So I've been waiting for a good moment to open it, and this seemed like the right time. Glad I did - it was a nice accompaniment to dinner, and it was good to share with friends. And, in case you were wondering, even though we gave Eric extra scallops on all his courses, he still didn't feel that he got enough. Me, I haven't been able to look at a scallop since then.

I think I'm going to Vinology for dinner on Wednesday. Thanks for the warning - I'll be sure to avoid the char... (And maybe try the scallops, although I'm still recovering from the all-scallops, all-the-time birthday dinner I made for my husband last month.)

jmsaul is right in describing my unstated bias. I was thinking of the category of interesting/ innovative upscale dining, which Ann Arbor is sorely lacking. We've got lots of great cheap and/or ethnic eats, but that's not what I'm talking about.

Thanks for the update. I had a reservation once that I cancelled due to an ice storm, and ever since then I've been thinking about going back but not made it. Your review doesn't give me much incentive to head all the way up to Keego Harbor - looks like I've missed the Jeremy window.